Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Rating Increased to Overweight at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $212.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $176.00.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.64.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $182.66 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $57.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.18, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.19. Ares Management has a 12 month low of $112.03 and a 12 month high of $184.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $169.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.17.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ares Management will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider Ryan Berry sold 5,443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.14, for a total transaction of $980,502.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 247,771 shares in the company, valued at $44,633,467.94. This represents a 2.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at $223,916,778.46. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 644,810 shares of company stock valued at $111,116,340. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARES. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $487,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,830,000 after purchasing an additional 18,773 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,798 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 53.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 10,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 3,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Ares Management by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 14,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,187,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ares Management

Ares Management Corporation operates as an alternative asset manager in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The company's Tradable Credit Group segment manages various types of investment funds, such as commingled and separately managed accounts for institutional investors, and publicly traded vehicles and sub-advised funds for retail investors in the tradable and non-investment grade corporate credit markets.